Fated Tryst
by Erik
Summary: Truce Village, 997 AD. A certain genius girl is forced out of her house by her mother so she can get some fresh air. Of course, she soon gets more than she bargained for in the form of two kids her age, Crono and Errol(OC), and a foul plot afoot... (Done)
1. Lucca's House, 9:14 a.m.

**Fated Tryst Introduction**

A few comments that should be noted... The chapters vary in length drastically, for one. The song written in the "Valador Jail Cell, 3:23 p.m." chapter is to the melody of "Yearnings of the Wind," a.k.a.: the Middle Ages world theme. Yes, the lyrics were written by me. This story changes points of view after every chapter, switching between Crono, Lucca, and Errol(original character). Last, but not least, enjoy, read, review...

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**Fated Tryst**

_July 3, 997 AD  
Lucca's House  
9:14 a.m._

"Aw, mom!" I complained, "Is it _really_ necessary?"

She turned her head away from the window that she had been gazing out of, looked me in the eyes, and said, "Lucca, darling, you've been cooped up in this house ever since school ended. You need to get out, take a walk, get some fresh air every one in a while! It'll do you good." She seemed to frown, but only for a moment. "Please, dear, just take a walk. I remember when you would just die whenever your father wouldn't go hiking with you because of some infernal contraption he was..." Her voice trailed off into silence, and we knew why. I wasn't particularly eager to take that certain stroll down memory lane either.

She changed the subject, just as she always did. "You don't have any friends your own age," she stated more than asked.

I straightened my glasses, more out of habit than necessity. Besides Dad, I didn't really relate to anybody that well. Actually, I didn't relate to anybody _at all_. I never minded. Dad was always the best company, and all the kids at school always picked on me. After all, next to my father, I'm most likely the smartest person in Truce, maybe even in all of Guardia Kingdom. Most teenagers preferred to be friends with people on their intellectual level, and I was like a total stranger to them. Dad, though...

"What does that have to do with anything?" I asked Mom. "I don't need any friends."

She countered, "Everyone needs friends. Maybe if you go into town, visit the local stores, the Inn, maybe you'll make a friend."

As much as I didn't want to see it, there was a small probability that she was correct. I thought of an excuse, and told her, "I have to work, Mom. I have a wonderful idea for a matter-energy teleportation device, but if I'm busy _socializing_," I emphasized unnecessarily, "I'll never get anything done!"

"I'm not asking you to spend all your time out there, dear!" she returned. "Just a few hours or so, and just for today. Please, Lucca."


	2. Crono's House, 10:02 a.m.

_Crono's House  
10:02 a.m._

"Crono," a familiar woman's voice called, too loud for my liking, especially at...

What time was it?

"Crono!" the lady's voice yelled again, much louder this time around. I stirred, pulling the sheets over my head, wondering why in the name of Leene someone was trying to wake me up so early.

"_CRONO!_"

Nothing prepared me for that sudden outburst, and my whole body flinched with shock. Sheets were tossed into chaos, and I was looking around wildly, as if my room had suddenly burst into flames.

But there were no flames, but when I saw the look on my mom's face, I was wishing that there were. A wildfire was more controllable than the wrath of my angered mother.

Trying and failing to hide my surprise, I stuttered, "W-what time is—"

"You were supposed to be up a half-hour ago, son."

Still not fully awake, I asked sleepily, "When was I supposed to be up?"

Mom sighed loudly, having to go through this talk for the umpteen-millionth time. "Nine-thirty, Crono."

After a few seconds that were actually fifteen or so, I exclaimed, "_Ten o'clock?!_" Lucky for me, Mom took it as a surprise that I had slept that late and not as the complaint about being up too early that it actually was. Regaining my composure, I asked her quietly, "I guess I have chores?"

"You bet your haircut ya' do, and if you're planning on going camping, you should probably hustle."

With that thought in mind, I quickly jumped out of bed. "I'll start in a few," I said hastily, running to the dresser to get some clothes on besides my boxers, and if it hadn't been for Tempo, my kitten, I would have made it without tripping. Tempo was fine, but I plunged face-first into the wall in my effort to avoid stepping on him.

"_Damn!_" I yelled, getting back up, holding a hand to my aching face.

Sighing once more, Mom turned towards the stairs, trying not to chuckle at my clumsy act. "You get dressed, and try not to hurt yourself," she paused as she started to the stairs before adding, "anymore."

She descended the stairs, and after a second, yelled back to me, "And _watch your language_, Crono!"


	3. Leene Square, 10:23 a.m.

_Leene Square  
10:23 a.m._

The sky was blue, dotted randomly with fluffy white clouds. Above, birds almost as white as those clouds soared, seeming not to care whatsoever for the town that they were traveling over. On the ground, though, people were going about their business. Groups of adults, children, salesmen, many kinds of folk were scattered about Leene Square, talking, walking, playing, selling. The Square itself was surrounded on all sides by forest except for the southern entrance, which led back to central Truce. Whenever there was a major celebration, Leene Square was sure to be its location, most notably the upcoming, albeit three years away, Millennial Fair.

My attention, however, was on another individual, a boy who looked about my age. I vaguely recognized him from school. From what I recall, his name was Errol. His hair was black and short, and he wore glasses over brown eyes, though I know others would say that his eyeglasses were feeble in comparison to mine. He wore a gray T-shirt that looked a few sizes too big with black shorts. His body looked strong, but not muscle-brained. He was sitting several yards away from where I had positioned myself, and I don't think he ever once looked in my direction. To top it all off, he was sitting alone.

Of course, I told myself, he could just be waiting for his other friends. On the other hand, he could just be observing people just as I was. In which case...

I shrugged it off. _What's the worst that could happen?_ I asked. With that in mind, I stood up after almost a half-hour of sitting and watching and walked over to him, my pack hanging on my shoulders, with me just in case it was necessary. I tried to keep calm over the chaos over my mind, trying to figure out what to say to him, what to talk about. By the time I realized it, I was standing right next to him.

He looked up at me strangely, keeping his head stationary and gazed at me only through the corner of his eyes. I looked back at him, and forced it out. "H-hello."

He folded his hands in his lap and broke his gaze upon me, returning to the crowd. "Hi."

I felt like I was shaking all over. What was I doing? I didn't need friends. I have all the companionship I want or need. Still, Errol seemed like an interesting person. Now that I thought about it, that "Hi" was the first word I ever recall him saying. He was considered a very cold, silent person, and I don't recall ever hearing anything about him having any friends.

Is that what people thought about me, too?

A moment later, I asked nervously, gesturing to the seat next to him, "Do you mind if I—"

"No," he interrupted suddenly, and I thought that he was annoyed by the question before he added, "I don't mind."

I raised my eyebrows and looked him over some more, somewhat surprised at him. Deciding to take this opening, I sat down, sitting my bag on my lap. "Uhm," I muttered to myself in thought. I looked around Leene Square. It wasn't any more or less active than it was when I arrived thirty minutes ago. "It's a nice day, isn't it?"

"It is," he answered simply. Then, he changed the subject almost entirely when he asked, "What brings you here, Lucca?"

I was startled that he called me by name until I realized that, since I recognized him from school, he might know me, as well. "Well," I began, trying to find out why I really _was_ there. "I just thought that I'd say hello."

"You did that," he stated matter-of-factly, his gaze still focused more on the Square than on myself. "Yet you sit here next to me. I think there's something more here."

_Wow, he can put two-point-one and three-point-seven together,_ I thought. "To be perfectly honest," I began again, "My mother made me get out of the house."

He nodded in understanding. "Something inside me said that it would be something like that."

"And _why_ do you say that?"

"Simple, really. Your reputation precedes you. You'd rather be at home working on your inventions and studying with your father than out here. Plus, you didn't seem to be having that much fun for the half-hour you were sitting in the Square."

This time, my eyes widened considerably. "You _knew_ I was here?!"

For the second time ever, he looked back at me, this time, moving his head. "Forgive me if you were trying not to be noticed."

"Actually, I wasn't really..." I began, "I mean, I didn't pay any attention to see if I was being noticed."

"I see," he voiced, finally showing the first signs of any emotion with a small grin. "I guess today's my lucky day."

"What does that mean?" I asked confusedly.

"Sunny day, Leene Square, cute girl," he listed. "Just add some food, and I'd be the most fortunate soul on the planet."

"Wow," I couldn't help but say. This kind of change in his character was unexpected. At first, he seemed almost annoyed by my presence, and before I know it, he's calling me cute. I giggled a bit.

"Something I said?" Errol asked me.

I took a breath and responded, "No one's ever called me 'cute' before. Well, except for my mom and dad."

"Did you ever give them the chance?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but no words came. I don't think anyone ever had the chance to complement me like that, and he must have suspected it.

"Thought so," he confirmed. His gaze once more went to the Square, specifically to a small stand selling snacks to the Square's guests. "Hungry?"

My eyebrows once again raised in surprise, and I straightened my glasses again. "Yeah."


	4. Crono's House, 10:43 a.m.

_Crono's House  
10:43 a.m._

"Bye, Mom! See ya'!" I quickly said as I ran to the door, clad in my usual training gear, complete with my Wood Sword.

"Crono, wait!" Mom called, "Food!"

For the second time that day, I tripped, falling to the ground, somehow managing to save my face from a second world of pain, making my chin take the force of the hit instead. Remembering the mention of food, I jumped back to my feet, barely noticing the intense pain in my jaw. After a moment, I realized that I had, indeed, forgotten to get the food for the camping from Mom.

I ran over to her, grabbed the basket that held the day's food, said, "Thanks, Mom," gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, and I was finally out the door.

I dashed as quickly as I could until I reached the outskirts of Truce, which took quite a few minutes, but it was well worth it.

The outskirts of Truce weren't that much to look at. Trees, grass, the clear blue sky, the road that led to Guardia Forest, beyond that Guardia Castle, and Zenan Bridge were about the only things you could find. It was the perfect place to be alone. It was also the perfect place to find the occasional stray monster. I sat down against the nearest tree for some rest and relaxation before I got to work.


	5. Truce Village, 10:46 a.m.

_Truce Village  
10:46 a.m._

Errol and I had a quick snack and left Leene Square to go for a walk around the town. Even though I had already walked around Truce before my arrival at the Square, it was considerably more interesting with company. It was fun, but a part of me wished that it wasn't. That would mean that Mom was right all along. Errol sure seemed interested in me. That much was for certain.

"So, Lucca, what's your family like?"

I gave him a quick glance before answering, "Don't you already know?"

"Yeah, sure, I know that Taban is your father, and that he's one of the most gifted inventors in the world, but that doesn't really answer my question. What is your family like?"

I let a smile escape as I answered, "Yes, Dad is brilliant. I can only hope that I'll be as successful as he is when the time comes."

"What about your mother?"

I stopped walking abruptly at the mention of Mom. He took two more steps before he turned around. I must've looked shocked, because his next words were spoken in a half-obvious, half-concerned tone. "Not a good topic?"

_"Enter the password! Stop this machine!"_

"Correct," I told him quietly as I resumed walking, himself doing the same once I caught up with him.

There was an awkward silence between us for a few moments. Looking back, I shouldn't have reacted so strongly to the mention of Mom, but it was so sudden and I never liked thinking about it, much less talking about it.

"Lucca," he asked me, "Have you ever been outside of Truce?"

I couldn't help but laugh at that question. "Of course I have! My father and I have been down to Porre a few times on business and—"

"I mean just outside of the village, the forests and fields just out of Truce."

_"Dad promised to go hiking with me, but blew me off again, due to his work."_

"A few times, long time ago."

His face brightened with a smile. "Wanna go again? Just for old times' sake, maybe?"

I thought about it. Mom did tell me to get out, take a walk, get some fresh air. Where could the air be fresher than the outskirts?

"C'mon!" He waved his hand ahead and started running zealously to the village exit. I followed as quickly as I could, and I suspected that he was intentionally slowing as not to leave me too far behind.


	6. Outskirts Of Truce, 11:02 a.m.

_Outskirts of Truce  
11:02 a.m._

"Beautiful, ain't it?" I said to Lucca, gesturing my hand to the hilly fields of the outskirts from a small hill just outside of Truce. We stood near the end of the forest, trees directly behind us. "You'd never be able to tell that there was a village nearby. It's almost completely untouched by man."

She replied, "It's more incredible than I remember it," and smiled at me. I remembered that I wasn't lying when I said that she was cute. Lavender hair running down the sides of her head, aqua-tinted eyes sparkling underneath powerful lenses, and everything else about her was indeed a vision of feminine beauty.

I snapped out of my trance when I sensed movement nearby. I spun around, almost expecting a monster to leap out and attack us, but there was nothing. Nevertheless, there was something around us.

Lucca walks up beside me. "What's the matter?"

"I think there's something out there."

She wasted no time. Almost immediately after I finished my sentence, she reached into her bag...

...and pulled out a pistol of some kind.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed at her, "What is _that?!_"

"One of my father's experiments," she answered. "The XB-4. Never been tested."

I looked at her in shock. _She sure comes prepared!_ I cleared my throat, sighed, and looked around again. "Well, this seems like a bad time to—"

I never finished that line. Something came at me from above, some kind of flying monster, and flew right into my back, knocking me to the ground. Before I could get up, two beasts seemed to appear from nowhere, most likely the forest. I recognized them as Hetake, mushroom-looking creatures, not that strong, but hazardous for those not prepared to face them, or if one is just weak. With that ray-gun of hers, I hoped that Lucca knew what she was doing while I could do what I needed to do.

After catching sight of the Hetake, I quickly sprung to my feet, spotting the Avian Chaos flying above them, obviously the creature that had knocked me down. I went into a fighting stance, though I didn't know what good it would do against untrained monsters.

"Uhm, Errol! Company!"

I turned my head only for a quick moment, enough to see three more Hetake nearing Lucca. My eyes returned to the monsters before me. Strangely enough, the beasts had effectively surrounded us.

"Don't panic," I told her calmly. "It could be worse."

On that cue, the monsters struck en masse. Operating as fast as I could, I managed to punch a jumping Hetake away, kicking the other, but the flying beast once again struck me, hitting my head hard. This time, I maintained my balance long enough to grab hold of the Avian Chaos. With all my might, I tossed it into the nearest tree. With a loud crash, it hit the tree, then the ground.

On instinct, I turned to help Lucca, who seemed to know what she was doing. She had already taken out one of the enemies, but after that, her ray-gun decided to die and she was officially powerless against them.

I literally jumped into the fray to assist Lucca, landing on the second Hetake. I jumped back off of it and kicked it into its friend, sending both flying away from us, defeated.

I ran over to Lucca, who had apparently been hit a few times by her adversaries. "Are you all—"

Interrupted once again, the Hetake's allies, three in number, jumped from the forest. Lucca jumped back in surprise and fell down as they began to charge at us, shrieking wildly...

...but their efforts were wasted. A human figure, moving too fast for me to get any details about him, appeared just as suddenly as the monsters themselves. He held a weapon, but the way he moved, I couldn't tell what it was except brown. He struck like a cyclone at the attacking beasts, striking them many times until they all finally collapsed. Once his attack was over, I was able to get a good look at him.

His head looked like it was on fire until I realized that his hair was just unkempt and insanely red. The only visible attempt to keep some order to his hair was a white headband wrapped around over the upper half of his forehead all around his cranium. His green eyes looked at Lucca and I, appearing concerned. He wore blue training garments, and he looked powerful enough to pull that cyclone attack off on ten Hetake. I hoped that wouldn't be necessary.

After examining the stranger, I turned back to Lucca. Both the mystery warrior and I said simultaneously, "Are you all right?"

Lucca looked between the two of us, as if trying to figure out which one to reply to. Eventually, she shrugged and told us, "I've been better, but I'll live."

"You!" the fighter shouted, pointing at me, "What the _hell_ were you thinking bringing her here?!"

"Don't seem too eager?" I asked sarcastically. After about five seconds of his penetrating gaze, I finally asked in response, "And how exactly was I supposed to know that the monsters were _this_ close to Truce?"

"You were lucky, my friend, that I just happened to be here to save your skins," he stated coldly.

I stood tall and took a few steps closer, "I could have handled this!"

"At what cost, this girl's health?"

My eyes narrowed angrily. This guy was really irritating me, but fighting the person who just assisted us in battle wouldn't make much sense to me, so I looked back to Lucca, then I walked over to her and offered my hand to her. She took it, and I helped her to her feet.

"Thank you, Errol," she said politely before turning to our mysterious new ally. "Who might you be, sir?"

"My name's Crono," he said. "And you?"

"I'm Lucca, and he's," she waved her hand at me, "Errol."

Crono looked between us, then voiced, "Nice meeting you, Lucca, and you, Errol, should be more careful where you take your dates."

I almost choked on my own saliva at that remark. Hacking and coughing, I managed to say, "She's... not my... date!"

Crono raised his eyebrows at me. "Really? You two look good together."

"Crono!" Lucca scolded, "We just met no more than two hours ago!"

He defended himself, "Hey, I said _looks_ like a good couple!" He walked between us towards the field.

_This is indeed turning into an eventful day. Meeting Lucca, the daughter of Taban, and then being saved by monsters by a warrior named Crono, and this was all before noon! What's next? Meeting Princess Nadia?!_


	7. Outside Crono's Tent, 11:23 a.m.

_Outside Crono's Tent  
11:23 a.m._

I decided to take Errol and Lucca to the field where I had set my camp up. It took a while, since I actually misplaced it, but we did make it there eventually. There was a strange silence throughout the trip, though, and it had me very nervous.

I sat down outside the tent I had placed, my sword resting on my shoulder, the two guests sitting ahead of me. The three of us formed a near-perfect triangle, and we all faced its center.

_What kind of luck is this?_ I thought, _A girl with glasses that could probably count the number of hairs on my head from ten miles away and her boyfriend. How do I end up with these people?_

"A Wood Sword?"

I looked up from my thoughts to Errol, who had his eyes focused on my weapon. "Yeah," I answered.

"You took out three Hetake with a Wood Sword," he stated. "Impressive."

"I use it for training," I told him, trying not to sound like those overconfident morons that I always hate. "What about you? Any weapons?"

"I improvise," he explained. "Anything I can get my hands on, I'll try to use. Of course, I can always use the hands themselves. Feet are also useful."

"Oh, yeah, you beat the Hetake and the Avian Chaos with your bare hands. That was interesting."

He laughed to himself. "Exactly how _long_ were you watching us?"

I decided to avoid that answer. "So, Lucca, what about you? I saw you were pretty good with that laser-thingy."

"I like testing out Dad's inventions," she shrugged.

"What?! Your _dad_ made that?!"

"Yes," she confirmed. "You haven't heard of Taban?"

"You're dad's _Taban_?!"

"Yes," she sighed.

_The hell?! These guys're more than I thought!_

I heard Errol laugh, "Wow! Didn't see that one coming, did ya'?"

I shot an annoyed look at Errol, "Well, no, actually. Did you?"

"We go to school together," he said knowingly, "She's a perfect student. It's hard not to know her, what with every commendation she's received and all."

"Yeah, whatever," I dismissed.

"And what about you, Crono?" the wizard daughter of Taban asked curiously. "I've never seen you at school."

"That's because I don't go to school."

"I figured as much. I'm an observer when it comes to the school's population, and I would definitely remember you if I ever saw you," explained Errol.

"I guess so," I plainly said. I looked back to Lucca and continued, "Everything I need to know, my parents taught me. Plus, I never got along with other kids all that well."

"Oh?" she inquiringly asked.

"You see this sword?" I said, taking it off my shoulder and holding it before me, as if I were displaying a holy relic. "I've had it for as long as I can remember. Along with that little tidbit of info, it has made violent contact with..." I paused to think of the right word, "...a whole mess of enemies." I skillfully maneuvered the weapon back to its resting position. "Some human, some not," I finished.

Errol sighed, "So in other words, you get into fights at the drop of a hat."

"Just don't drop any hats, and you'll be fine," I warned Errol. He was really starting to get on my nerves with that attitude of his.

"I can't believe I forgot!" Lucca suddenly shouted before digging into her bag, taking out her pistol thing. "This thing shouldn't have died like it did! I wonder what the problem is." She reached into her pack once more, pulling from it, of all things, a screwdriver. She maneuvered the tool as skillfully as I wielded my sword and removed the outer covering of the gun's handle within seconds. "Looks like the power cell's been totally drained," she concluded. "But that's..."

"She's good, ain't she?" I asked Errol, watching Lucca work on her weapon.

"I wouldn't know, but if she's half as great a fix-it person as her dad, then she's very good."

"Could you two keep it down?" she snapped at us, "I'm trying to concentrate. Now, why would the cell have given out?"

Errol and I shot glances between ourselves and Lucca, and decided to keep quiet while the resident genius did her work.


	8. Outside Crono's Tent, 11:58 a.m.

_Outside Crono's Tent  
11:58 a.m._

"Ta-da!"

I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sudden outburst from the otherwise silent Lucca. "What in Leene's name?!" I shouted, suddenly realizing that I had somehow fallen asleep while Lucca fiddled around with her ray-gun. I also noticed that Crono was absent from the environs. After finally catching my breath, I heard Lucca laughing, and I couldn't help but join her. After the giggling had passed, I finally managed to ask her, "What's so funny?"

"Sorry for snapping at you earlier, Errol," she told me. "I tend to get a little edgy when I'm working."

I nodded, adding, "I'll keep that in mind." I looked around again, still not finding any sign of Crono, afterwards inquiring of Lucca, "So, I'm assuming you fixed your gun?"

"Yep!" she acclaimed. "As it turns out, the power usage ratio was set sky high. The cell drained itself after only three shots! Luckily, I corrected it, so I should be able to use about twenty or twenty-five shots before the power's drained."

"What about the used up cell? Is it recharged?"

"Oh, I have extra cells just in case I need them. I have five in all, the used one, the one in the gun right now, and three extras, so I'm fine for now."

"We can talk now?" Crono's voice asked from behind, sounding somewhat muffled. I turned and saw that his voice emanated from inside of his tent. I guessed he had also fallen asleep while Lucca worked.

As Crono himself emerged from the tent, Lucca answered him with a playful smile, "Yes, Crono, we can talk now."

"Good, I hate silence."

I held back a comment concerning the irony of that statement coming from him and decided to change the subject, if only for a moment. "What time is it?"

After checking her watch, Lucca told me, "Twelve o'clock."

"Well, kids," Crono began, and I gave him a scornful look at the "kids" comment, "I'm staying the night here, so if you have homes to go to, you should probably get going."

"You're right," Lucca agreed.

"Hey, Lucca," I called, "You think it'd be okay if we stopped by my house on the way to yours?"

"Who said you were coming to my house?" she returned, and I suddenly realized how that must've sounded to her.

"I didn't mean I'd go in!" I quickly added, "It just seems a little rude not to escort a lady back to her home after a day out."

"Point," she conceded with a grin. "I guess that'd be all right."

"Cool," I stated, finally standing up to stretch after about a half-hour of sitting and sleeping. I once more found myself walking to Lucca and offering her my hand. I helped her up, and she picked up her bag and replaced it on her shoulder.

"It was nice meeting you, Crono," she admitted, waving her hand in farewell as we began walking back to Truce.

"Same here," I reluctantly added, "I guess."


	9. The Road To Truce, 12:03 p.m.

_The Road To Truce  
12:03 p.m._

"I dunno 'bout you," Errol finally said after a few minutes of silence between us as we walked back to the village, "but I'm glad to be headin' back home."

"Tell me about it!" I agreed wholeheartedly, admiring the greenery of the environment around us along with the azure sky, still spotted with white clouds, but a little more alert after having been attacked by wild beasts just an hour ago. "I never want to see another monster ever again!"

"I guess you don't like fighting all that much," he deduced. "I might get angry, but I refuse to fight against another person unless it's self-defense. Monsters, I'll take on, but only if I have to."

"I'd just as soon stay away from battles altogether."

"Sometimes, conflict is unavoidable, but I'd have to agree with you there, Lucca."

She motioned her head down to her pack. "As much as I enjoy testing out our inventions, and by our, I mean my father and I, I'd just as soon prefer a shooting range, or some other non-living target, or maybe a weapon that just knocks the victim unconscious."

Errol was about to respond when we heard a rustling sound from a nearby tree. We looked over to it to spot what looked like an Avian Chaos perched on a branch, but its wings were red and it was missing its left eye. With its remaining eye, it was staring directly at the two of us like a black omen.

"That gun of yours," Errol suddenly asked, "How strong is it?"

I answered after a moment, "I'm not exactly sure. I tried lowering the power usage ratio to a non-lethal level, but if it worked or not is anyone's guess."

The flying monster, almost as if it understood what we were saying, suddenly charged at us. Errol readied his hands to intercept the monster, and I reached into my pack for the XB-4, almost knowing that I would never reach it in time...

...but it flew _over_ our heads by only a few inches and off into the distance.

"Uhm..."

"Yeah," said Errol, "That was really weird."

I looked him in the eye as I told him apprehensively, "I have a bad feeling about this."

"Join the club," he responded, trying to smile kiddingly. He was probably as scared as I was, but I assumed that he wouldn't show it.

"You think we should quicken our pace?"

"If ya' want."


	10. Outskirts Of Truce, 12:07 p.m.

_Outskirts of Truce  
12:07 p.m._

I returned to the field where I had previously been practicing with my sword before I saved Lucca and Errol to resume my practice. I sliced the air at invisible enemies, slaying envisioned foes one by one. It would get exhausting after hours on end, but I was nowhere near that point.

It wasn't until I spotted a man walking towards me out of the corner of my eye that I finally ceased my false attacks. He didn't seem to be in much of a hurry to get to me, but he was indeed walking to me and not just out for a stroll. He looked tough and muscular, even from this distance. He could probably take a lot of damage before actually getting hurt.

Eventually, he stopped just about two yards away from me, his expression cold and emotionless. "Have you seen a girl with purple hair and glasses anywhere nearby?"

I looked at him, trying miserably to hide my surprise. "Uh, yeah, I saw her."

His expression remained icy as he continued, "Which way is she headed?"

"She's heading that way," I pointed eastward, "back to Truce."

The man stepped closer to me, and I now realized that he was a full head above me in height. "You've been most helpful."

And then the darkness came.


	11. The Road To Truce, 12:10 p.m.

_The Road To Truce  
12:10 p.m._

After a quick run to ensure that the strange bird beast was far behind us, Errol and I finally resumed a normal walking pace. The road was becoming noticeably better maintained, which could only mean that Truce wasn't much farther.

"I still have a bad feeling about this," I reminded him.

"And you should still join the club. Membership is free for the next three days."

I chuckled at him. "You're an odd one."

"Thanks. You're odd, too."

"Oh, be quiet!" I yelled at him jokingly, slapping him in the arm part-angrily, part-playfully. We laughed at each other a bit before I finally decided to take the XB-4 out of my bag to make it more accessible, should the need arise.

"I'm telling you, Lucca, we're safe! I know for a _fact_ that monsters don't come _this_ close to the village."

I was about to find another topic when a person, a male adult seeming to be in his mid-thirties, stepped out from behind a nearby tree and stood in the middle of the road before us. We stopped dead in our tracks at this sight. The bad feeling I had with the one-eyed bird earlier had just increased by a hundred times. He was dressed plainly, with a red shirt and unremarkable black pants. In terms of physique, he looked like an adult version of Crono, minus the flaming red hair. This one's hair was short and brown, and his eyes were hidden behind sunglasses.

"Company," Errol whispered, nudging me in the arm. "Six o'clock."

I was about to tell him that it was a little past noon when I heard footsteps from behind. I quickly turned my head to spot a similarly casual man directly behind...

...and perched on his shoulder was the red-winged, one-eyed Avian Chaos.

"Miss Lucca," the man with the bird said. "If you'll cooperate, this will be quick and harmless."

I risked a glance at Errol. He looked ready and angry enough to fight both of these men by himself, but he probably knew that would be futile.

"What the hell do you want?" he said in the tone similar to how he had greeted me with at Leene Square earlier, but sounding much more annoyed and very threatening.

"Watch your mouth, kid," said the other man, "or you'll find yourself going home in a box." At that comment, both men pulled short swords, the blades gleaming in the sunlight and no more than a half-meter in length, from what looked like long, hidden pockets in their pants.

At that point, I was scared beyond belief. My first day out for who knows how long, and I end up being...

"W-what do you want w-with me?"

"A simple thing, really," said the bird-holding man, "but you'll have to take it up with the Boss."

"Whatever it is, she's not interested!"

"Do we look like we care if she's interested?!"

"You mind handing over that laser of yours?"

_The XB-4!_ With all that was happening, I had forgotten that I was holding it. On my baser instincts, I pointed the weapon at the chest of the man ahead of me, the first one that blocked our path.

With a grin, the man said, "You can't possibly be fast enough to take both my friend and I out with that. Shoot one of us, and the other will make short work of your friend."

A look of dejection crossed my face. He was correct, though not for the reason he had pointed out. I could easily be quick enough to shoot them both, but the XB-4 took two or three seconds to charge after being fired, seconds that we didn't have. Seconds that Errol didn't have. I had no doubt that they would leave me alive, but I questioned myself on whether they would spare Errol.

"I'll go with you," I finally said, lowering the XB-4.

"Lucca!" Errol shouted. "You can't possibly—"

I interrupted him, "No one will get hurt because of me!"

_"Enter the password! Stop this machine!"_

"I'll go with you willingly," I repeated, adding, "but only of you leave him alone."

"No can do, missy."

The man from behind explained, "Let him go, and he'll go to the authorities. We can't have witnesses ruining the Boss's plan."

"But we'll be more than happy to take you both."

Then, a course of action occurred to me, one so simple that I couldn't believe that I didn't realize it earlier. "Errol," I said quietly, "we're leaving."

Without another word, I pointed my weapon at the man that stood between us and Truce and fired. The shocking blast of energy hit him square in the chest. As he collapsed, I began my dash back to Truce, trying to keep as much distance between myself and our hunter as possible. Errol seemed a bit dazed by my surprise attack, but nonetheless, he caught up with me in no time. We quickly ran past the collapsed figure of the hopefully stunned would-be captor. I risked a glance over my shoulder, and just as planned, we were being pursued. After a few more meters of running, I broke off the dash, turned around, aimed, and fired again. The blast met its mark, and the second man fell to the ground.

"You okay?" Errol asked me after the action was over.

"Been better. Been better," I assured him, looking back at the two unconscious men. In the back of my mind, an alarm went off. Something was missing.

"Where's the bird?" Errol suddenly asked, thinking exactly what I was thinking.

"I dunno, but I don't think we should stick around to find out." Glancing around the area, there was no sign of our pursuer's pet. If it was as tame as I hypothesized it to be, it might have left to bring more kidnappers. "It'll be safer in Truce. Let's go!"

We turned around, but before I could even move a step eastward, a sudden wave of somnolence rushed over me. "Er-Errol," I managed to say, struggling to keep my eyes open. As vision began to blur, I saw Errol collapse to the ground, and above us, a pair of red wings.


	12. Valador Jail Cell, 3:23 p.m.

_Valador Jail Cell  
3:23 p.m._

_When the world is icy cold  
The memories of old  
Will clearly light the way for you.  
Remember what you're told  
And no one be as bold  
As he who heeds the yearnings of the wind._

_In a world that's full of grief  
Where joy is oh, so brief  
You can make a diff'rence, my son.  
And you can bring relief  
Just follow your belief  
And listen to the howling of the wind._

_Just know and believe  
In the pow'r you hold.  
Just trust and know  
What the wind says.  
Now, follow your heart,  
Make a wish on a star  
And just believe  
In the strength that the wind holds._

_You are more than what you seem.  
A guiding sunlight beam  
Will shine on your life, my young one.  
Just remember that theme  
And keep in mind your dream  
And may the wind be always by your side._

_Know that time is no kind soul  
And it can take its toll  
On he who tries to challenge it  
Choose carefully your role  
And never lose your goal  
And the wind may yet assist you again._

_Just know and believe  
In the pow'r you hold.  
Just trust and know  
What the wind says.  
Now, follow your heart,  
Make a wish on a star  
And just believe  
In the strength that the wind holds._

_When the world is icy cold  
The memories of old  
Will clearly light the way for you.  
Remember what you're told  
And no one be as bold  
As he who heeds the yearnings of the wind..._


	13. Valador Jail Cell, 3:26 p.m.

_Valador Jail Cell  
3:26 p.m._

It was a familiar voice, that of a male, a kid probably around my age, I ventured to guess. The melody he sang was soothing, seeming to change from one verse to the next, first with nearly every syllable cut short, then next flowing like a lullaby. It seemed to relax me, even though I was sleeping on a hard rock surface. Come to think of it, I had no idea how I had gotten here, or even where here was. It wasn't until the first verse repeated itself that I began to stir.

The song ended, and I was finally awake enough to open my eyes. Wherever this place was, it was dark, lit only by torches that I heard burning in the background. Darkness coupled with the uncomfortable rock surface suddenly woke me fully. I jumped up to my feet, tossing strands of red hair into my eyes. I brushed them away, and in my quick survey of the location, I found the singer of the tune I had heard, sitting on the ground against the wall.

"Errol?!"

"Glad to see you're alive, Crono," he said to me dryly, as if he were kidding. "For a while there, I thought they might have stuck me with a corpse for company."

_"They?"_ I thought to myself. At last, I remembered. "That son of a bitch knocked me out!" I heard Errol's chuckling and gave him an angry glare. "What're you laughing at? You're in the same boat as me!" Then, another puzzle piece made itself known to me as I realized that Errol and I were alone. "Where's Lucca? Wasn't she with you?"

"She was captured, too. It looks like she's actually the one they want, but they aren't all that eager to explain themselves."

"Probably ransom," I deduced. "She is the daughter of Taban, and her family is one of the more wealthy ones in Truce, being genius inventors and all."

"I thought of that. It's the most likely reason," agreed Errol, "and we were unlucky enough to be witnesses to her disappearance. They took me so I couldn't tell the authorities."

"I was nowhere near you when you were caught," I explained, "But some guy came up to me and asked if I had seen Lucca. I said yes, he said I was helpful, and he KO'ed me."

"When news of Lucca's disappearance comes to public light, you might have told the authorities about that. Must be why you're here."

I sat down on the ground in a vain attempt to get comfortable. This place was definitely meant to be a jail cell, complete with metal bars forming a barrier between us and the rest of the cavern. Cavern?

I stated upon noticing, "This looks like a cave."

"I'd have to agree. Too bad I dunno where this place is. For all we know, we could be a hundred miles from Truce."

"This seems too neat to be natural."

"Whoever these guys are, they might have used this cave as their hideout for years, working to get the walls and stuff into the right shape for rooms such as this."

I nodded, leaving the hypothesizing up to Errol. Personally, my only goal would be to escape. Unfortunately, my Wood Sword was no longer in my possession. Fortunately, however slim my chances, the sword in question was propped against the far wall just beyond the bars next to a table that held an item that told me that Lucca had been somewhere nearby, her pistol. In the middle of the wall of bars, the door leading into our cage stood locked. I could never reach it, though, so it didn't seem to make sense thinking about it. Even with the weapon, it wouldn't help us get past the bars. I couldn't help but think on it, though.

"Lucca," Errol exhaled. "If only I hadn't convinced her to come to the outskirts."

Keeping my eyes on my out-of-reach sword, I told him instinctively, "Monsters are something you can usually predict. This was human work. This time, you really did have no way of knowing there was trouble around."

"You're... saying it wasn't my fault?"

"Why would it be?"

He was silent for an instant before he rationalized, "I never thought that you would do that. To be honest, I thought you would blame this whole mess on me."

"I don't put blame where it doesn't belong."

Again, he fell silent.

"You like her. Don't you?"

"What? You mean Lucca?"

With that remark, my concentration on my Wood Sword shattered. I looked at him like he was the dumbest thing to ever walk the planet. "No, my mom!" I retorted with sarcasm.

"Well, she is a little controlling and a bit old for me, but—"

"Stop that! Yes, I mean Lucca!"

"Maybe a little bit. She's sweet, kind, so innocent, but I hardly know her! Maybe after we get to be friends or something, I might pursue it, but not now."

I cracked a smile as I said, "I knew you liked her."

He stared into my eyes, and I returned the favor. "I figured you'd say that."

There was another silence between us as we exhausted that topic. I sighed loudly. _Man, Mom's gonna kill me if I ever get outta here! This was supposed to be a one-night little camping trip, dammit!_


	14. The Boss's Office, 3:35 p.m.

_The Boss's Office  
3:35 p.m._

I slowly returned to consciousness, laying on a comfortable couch, covered by blankets. At first, I tried to go back to sleep, but before long, a memory flashed back into my mind.

_We turned around, but before I could even move a step eastward, a sudden wave of somnolence rushed over me. "Er-Errol," I managed to say, struggling to keep my eyes open. As vision began to blur, I saw Errol collapse to the ground, and above us, a pair of red wings._

It was then that I finally emerged from sleep into the land of the living. I darted to a sitting-up position, in turn tossing my hair into disarray and the sheets to the floor. I ran my fingers through my purple strands to straighten them out, and looked around. Unfortunately, it didn't do much good. My glasses had somehow been taken from me, and I could only make out through the blur that it was an office of some sort.

I stood up and looked around the vicinity of the couch. There was a table next to it, and after feeling around on the top of it, I regained my glasses and put them on. As I had guessed, it was an office, a rather extravagantly decorated one at that. Paintings and sculptures were placed along the walls decoratively. The room was rectangular in shape, the couch positioned on one of the long sides. To my right was a desk, the chair behind it black and most likely comfortable. Its back was to me, and I half-expected it to be occupied. Opposite the desk was the only exit I could see.

"Good," an unfamiliar man's voice said from, as I suspected, behind the chair, "You're awake."

The chair spun around, and the man behind the voice, and probably my kidnapping, was revealed. If I hadn't been somewhat angry at being abducted against my will, I would've noticed how handsome he appeared. Curly orange hair topped his head, and a beard of that same hue rounded his chin. He possessed an aura of properness and sophistication that went hand-in-hand with the opulent surroundings. In his hand was a pipe, smoke billowing from the end of it.

"I've been looking forward to meeting you, Lucca. I've gone to so much trouble to—"

"—kidnap me."

"—escort you to my humble abode," he finished, as if what his men had done was perfectly legitimate. "Tell me, young one, why do you think you're here?"

"Ransom," I answered instantly.

"Well, eventually, dear," he agreed, "but for now, you have a much more valuable use to me."

I was half-listening to that comment when I spotted my bag sitting next to the table where my glasses were sitting moments ago.

"Oh, and don't think you'll find your weapon in that pack of yours," he added, obviously noticing that my eyes went to my bag for a moment. "We took the liberty of removing it, but rest assured that everything else is just as we found it."

I decided not to take his word for it, and moved to inspect the bag myself while he continued talking. "You're the next best thing to having Taban himself with us. It was a stroke of luck that we actually found you at all. It was quite shocking when we discovered that you had actually ventured out of your house, really. It gave us the opportunity to finally bring you before me."

Through his little speech, I discovered that he had told me the truth. With the exception of the XB-4, everything was here, even the spare power cells. I sighed heavily and looked up at him. "What in the world do _you_ want with me?!" I asked him irately. "And _who_ are you?"

"My name is Santsu," he announced, almost beaming with pride. "I require your technical expertise."

"You want me to fix something?" I tried not to sound too excited. After all, he did kidnap myself along with—

"Where's Errol?" I burst out, surprising even myself.

"The kid who was with you, or the spike-headed tough guy with the Wood Sword?"

I choked on my own words, "Wood... Sword? Crono!"

"Unfortunately, they've been unconscious for the past few hours. I haven't been able to learn their names just yet, but if you're any indication, they should be waking up soon, if they haven't already."

_They have Errol _and_ Crono! We might just stand a chance of getting out of here after all!_

"What is it that you want fixed?"

Santsu finally stood from behind his desk and walked around towards me. "It is unlike anything that has been seen by human eyes for over ten-thousand years. All my men have looked at it, but no one's been able to identify it, much less repair it."

"And you expect _me_ to know how to fix it?!"

"Not at first, no," he admitted, "but I have high hopes of you, my young prodigy. I'm certain that you'll learn quickly. That is, if you value the lives of your Errol and Crono."

With that comment, the situation became much more dangerous than I thought, almost to the point of being a no-win scenario. There was no guarantee that I'd be able to fix this mystery machine of theirs, but with the lives of Errol and Crono hanging in the balance...

_"Enter the password! Stop this machine!"_

_"No one will get hurt because of me!"_

"Where is this machine of yours?"

Santsu smiled, and it seemed like a cold, heartless smile. He walked towards the exit of his office, and gestured for me to follow. "This way, dear."

With those steps out the door, I made my deal with the devil.


	15. Valador Jail Cell, 3:38 p.m.

_Valador Jail Cell  
3:38 p.m._

Locked in a cage, weapons sitting on the far wall just out of our reach, and with no indication that our captors even remembered they had captured us, it was almost maddening. It was becoming difficult to believe that just that morning, I was enjoying the atmosphere of Leene Square, getting some fresh air and observing the passing folk before Lucca walked up to me and nervously said "H-hello." Kidnapped for who knows what reason was the last thing I expected to happen.

Almost without realizing it, I started humming the melody that had been passed down in my family for generations, the song that woke Crono from his KO'ed state. Though some portions of the song escaped my reasoning, the sound of the words and the melody itself had a strangely calming effect on me, probably from remembering how my mother used to sing that song to me when I was little, back when I thought I actually could heed the yearnings of the wind. It was the closest thing that our family had to an heirloom. It was the one thing my family had given me that no one could take from me.

"That's a nice song."

My humming was cut short in the transition to the next verse when I heard Crono's complement. After a moment of trying to think of that to say, I simply replied, "Thank my ancestors."

"Oh?"

"The song has been passed down through my family for more than four-hundred years," I clarified, "It's kind of an heirloom."

Crono stood up and walked over to me, then sat himself down next to me. "Cool. I don't think my family ever had any heirlooms."

I looked over to Crono's sword, leaning against the wall where it had been ever since we arrived in this forsaken place. "What about that?"

"My sword?" he asked, leaving himself completely open for payback.

"'No, my mom!'" I imitated him, but I couldn't restrain my laughter.

He laughed with me before he explained to me, "'Fraid not, Errol. That sword is mine, and has always belonged to me for as long as it's existed."

"Really? I would've thought there's be some kind of story behind you and that sword."

"Sorry to disappoint you."

We both fell silent as the door leading into the room opened, and a gold-haired woman entered, carrying with her a small, thin box, its contents unknown. From the looks of it, she was probably a maid of some sort, something that I thought appeared out-of-place in a cavern like this. She moved wordlessly and bent down, sliding the box through the bars and placing it in our cell. Her face showed nervousness and fear, as if she was violating her orders by giving us whatever was in that box. I had no doubt she was.

"I was never here," she whispered. After that line, she stood up and left as quietly as she had entered.

"Uhm... Okay," I managed to say as Crono moved to take the box.

"There's a note attached to this," Crono pointed out as he removed the paper from the box.

"What?!" I shot to my feet and grabbed the note from him, reading it aloud.

"'Guys, I shouldn't be doing this, but I felt that you should know where you exactly are located. This is Santsu's hideout, located inside of Mount Valador. In case you two happened to be sleeping during your geography lessons, Mount Valador is located a few miles to the north of Truce Village. Enclosed in the box, you will find what little food I was able to bring you. It's the best I could get. I've served Master Santsu loyally for many years, but I cannot condone the kidnapping of you innocent children just to keep the disappearance of Lucca a mystery from public eyes a little longer. On the subject of Lucca, you needn't fear for her safety, at least for the next few days. As long as she cooperates with Santsu, her life, as well as your lives, will be safe. Pray she is as smart as we all hope she is.'"

Crono and I were silent, amazed at the amount of information the woman's letter had revealed, as well as some mysteries. "Well, that was weird," Crono finally spoke.

"Definitely. Who's this 'Santsu' fellow? What does he want with Lucca? How the hell're we gonna escape?"

"What kind of food did she bring?"

I scoffed. _Leave it to him to think about food at a time like this._

As suddenly as the woman had entered the room, an idea hit me. "Crono, wait!" I snatched the box from him, tossing the note to the ground. I inspected the item carefully. It seemed heavy enough for what I had planned.

"What in Leene's name are you doing?"

"Pondering."

"Well, leave the food out of it!"

I ignored the protest, instead focusing my attention on Lucca's ray-gun and Crono's Wood Sword. I then moved to inspect the lock on the cell's door. Thankfully, it was an external padlock, and it looked worn from years of disuse. I used my free hand to tug on it a few times, getting a feel of its security. It was strong, but I hoped it wasn't strong enough for—

"ERROL!"

I jumped at the outburst. "Dammit, Crono! I'm thinking!"

I took one last look at the box and the sword, which looked close enough, and stuck the box out between the bars, aiming as carefully as I could. Deciding that it was the only chance we would be likely to get, I tossed the box down to where the sword's tip met the ground. They met with a bang, and the sword lost its balance and fell to the ground, the handle pointing towards us.

I looked at Crono triumphantly, and his jaw looked like it would hit the ground just like his sword. "W-w-what was _that_ for?!"

"Can you reach it?" I asked, ignoring his question, but in a way answering it.

He looked through the bars to his fallen sword, and suddenly his face lit in recognition. Without further ado, he scrambled to the bars, reaching his arm through the bars as far as he could. His fingertips barely managed to reach the end of the handle, but it was just enough for him to use them to move the blade closer to us. Within seconds, the Wood Sword was with its rightful owner, at long last.

He maneuvered the sword, slicing it at the air and shifting the weapon between his hands, seeming to make up for the hours he had spent away from the sword. "What now, genius?"

"Here's where you come in," I replied. I was tempted to take the sword from him, but I realized that he would have better luck with it. I pointed to the lock and conveyed, "That lock is old and worn. Your sword should have no problem breaking it."

"How 'bout instead, I do this." I was about to ask what his plan was when he showed me himself. Once more extending his arm out of the cage, his sword along with it, he began to prod—

—at the table leg closest to us.

"That works, too," I conceded. Even as I spoke, he had already managed to move the table just enough towards us that manipulating it became far easier. After he had moved it about a half-meter closer to us, he stopped and switched his efforts to the only extra weight on the table, Lucca's ray-gun.

I complimented, "Genius work, Crono. Between the two of us, getting out will be as easy as shooting fish in a barrel."

"Or locks outside our cell," he offered.

"That, too."

With one final motion, he swept the gun off the table and sent it clattering to the ground. It was out of our normal reach, but the influence of Crono's sword persuaded it to move closer. Finally, it was close enough to reach, and I picked it up from the outside, checking it to see if it was damaged. Fortunately, it seems perfectly useable. It seemed that talking to Lucca about this thing would be useful, after all.

I hurried over to the lock, pointing the gun at it at point-blank range. After a mental countdown, I fired, sending sparks flying away from the lock as the energy made contact with the old lock. It clanked to the floor purposelessly.

We were finally free of the cell, but our escape had just begun.


	16. Ruins Of Kajar, 3:42 p.m.

_Ruins of Kajar  
3:42 p.m._

After a few minutes of walking through Santsu's facility, which looked like it was imbedded within a mountain, whatever good that information would do, we finally arrived where he had spent that time taking me.

This place was unlike everything I had imagined it to be. Where I expected a giant machine, there was nothing but ruins. We had entered through a doorway into what was probably a building of some sort more than ten-thousand years earlier. For the first time, that age looked fitting. The walls were covered with cracks, entire pieces eroded away forever. Large masses of stone were in most of the corners. They could have been statues back when this place had seen life, but now they were broken and worn away beyond recognition. Directly ahead of the doorway, the ground went into a rise, and ancient stairs led the way upward. Even those stairs looked like they would fall apart with the slightest touch. Fortunately, we didn't take those stairs, for Santsu led me down the short corridor to the right, to the place that seemed to be the center of their attention.

Whatever it was, it, like everything else in this cavern, was unknown to me. It was about half my height, but it seemed like I was looking at the portion that should have been underground. It was cylindrical, light blue at the very top. The workings of the device were advanced beyond my knowledge. It seemed like a strangely-designed shelf that held various colored crystals in numerous slots. As if to complicate the matter, some of the slots lacked crystals. I had my doubts that this was supposed to be a machine, and I let him know it.

"You expect me to fix _this?!_"

"That's right."

I scoffed at him. "This can't be a machine! It looks more like a display case than a working device!"

"I have confidence that you can make it work. Need I remind you that I hold your friends' lives in my hand. I suggest you get to work. Indolence won't do you any good here." Finished with that solemn reminder of just how cruel he could be, he made his way out of the ruins, stopping by two of his men on the way. "Watch her," I heard him order as he finally made his exit.

_What kind of idiot is he? How can I fix this thing when I don't even know what it's supposed to do?_ I huffed in anger as I stepped towards the supposed device. From the looks of it, the thing wasn't supposed to come out of the ground. They had obviously forced the inner workings to the surface, where the designer never intended them to be. If it was supposed to do something, it would most likely never do it again, not unless I could go back ten-thousand years or so and speak to the makers.

_I hope Errol and Crono are all right. Where could they be? Where could I be?_ I looked around futily, knowing that examining the ancient surroundings wouldn't give me an idea of my relative distance or direction from Truce. _Why was Crono captured? We made decent distance between us before we were caught._

More questions than answers came flooding into my brain as I sat next to the cylindric thing, taking the crystals out to examine them, albeit in vain.


	17. Valador Cavern, 3:50 p.m.

_Valador Cavern  
3:50 p.m._

This was getting ridiculous. We had been wandering around the cave freely for almost ten minutes, and we still hadn't seen anyone. As far as we could tell, no one knew that we had escaped our cell. If they were as weak as their security, then getting out would be easier than I thought.

It seemed the farther we walked, the more artificial-looking the cave became, and that worried me. We had been lucky to escape and get this far unnoticed, but I personally didn't want to have to fight our way through the facility, though having Crono as a partner would help to at least give us better chances. Still, having to fight human guards was something I felt... afraid of.

"Oh, for cryin' out loud!" Crono surprisingly exclaimed. "This is too easy!"

I rolled my eyes, sighed, and asked him, "What is it?"

He pointed towards something on the wall, and upon seeing it, I suddenly found myself in perfect agreement. _You'd almost think they _wanted_ us to find Lucca._ Something didn't seem right, though, about finding a map of the general vicinity pinned onto the wall to our right, complete with a "You are here" marker.

"Well, it looks like we're here," Crono stated obviously, pointing at the marker. "It looks like we're in pretty deep," he concluded. "It looks like the 'Boss's Office' isn't too far from here."

"You think Lucca might be there?" I wondered. "It's possible," I found myself answering my own question. "She's valuable to them, so this Boss fellow might have wanted to speak with here ASAP."

"What's that all about, anyway? What's so important to them?"

Once more, I examined the map. It looked more like a series of interconnecting tunnels than a hideout. There were few rooms that I could spot. There was the Boss's office, his quarters, living quarters that were still deeper into the mountain, a mess hall, the ruins, the jail—

"What's that?" I pointed to a sizable section on the map labeled "Ruins," within that section what looked like a building within the mountain itself.

Crono looked like he was about to respond, but the answer he had died stillborn as a sound echoed from both the left and right, the sound of the soles of shoes against rock. Footsteps. With a quick nod, Crono raised his sword to a ready position and faced right as I stood back-to-back with him, laser ready. There was a loud thumping sound coming from somewhere nearby, and it made me even more nervous than the footsteps, even after I realized it was only my heartbeat. In the span of a few seconds, I felt like I has perspired more than I had all day combined. I tried to shove the apprehension aside, but it constantly rebounded. Even as the guard turned the corner, I found it hard to concentrate. I was pointing my weapon at another human, and it didn't seem right.

_"Luckily, I corrected it, so I should be able to use about twenty or twenty-five shots before the power's drained."_

_"I might get angry, but I refuse to fight against another person unless it's self-defense."_

_"I tried lowering the power usage ratio to a non-lethal level, but if it worked or not is anyone's guess."_

The guard saw Crono and I, and it was painfully obvious that if I didn't do something, the familiar short blade in his hand would soon find its mark. Millions of alarms seemed to go off within my head, every one of them conflicting with each other. Within the chaos of my mind, I did what needed to be done. As the rest of the world seemed to melt away around me, I finally pulled the trigger.

As my nemesis crashed to the ground, I crashed to my knees, my hand still gripping the gun firmly. _This is insane, unwarranted, stupid,_ I tried to explain. _If I can't bring myself to stun another human being, how am I going to get through this?_

"You okay?"

Crono's voice startled me to my feet in a flash. In an equally swift motion, I turned myself around to face him, noticing that, just behind him, the other guard was unconscious. I gazed at him for a few moments before finally lying, "I'm fine. Let's check out this guy's office."

"You ain't fine," he ignored. "Guys who are 'fine' don't have shaking hands."

"What?"

He pointed down, and my hands were indeed shaking. I huffed at him, "This can wait for later. Right now, our friend's in trouble." I shot a quick look at the map before finding the quickest route to the Boss's office. "We're going." With that, I ran down the corridor, trying to push away the flashbacks of that moment.


	18. The Boss's Office, 3:56 p.m.

_The Boss's Office  
3:56 p.m._

Two guards were standing outside of the office, but I easily knocked their lights out. News of the men we took out earlier must not have come to anyone's attention just yet, so we still had the element of surprise, though it could easily expire at any moment. The door leading into the office was unlocked, so I entered quickly, Errol following closely behind. At first, I thought "the Boss" would be on the inside of the doors, but I quickly saw that the room was devoid of life, but that didn't keep it from surprising me.

The office looked like a room you'd expect to find in a mansion, not a mountain. The boss must be rich to afford the art that decorated the room. Upon stepping into the room, I nearly forgot we were actually inside a mountain. At the far end of the room, a desk rested, a dark chair behind it. Given that it didn't automatically turn around, I assumed that it was empty.

That assumption proved incorrect. "I was hoping you'd find your way here. I never much cared for those guards outside, anyway."

I raised my sword in the direction of the desk. "Well, don't just sit there cowering behind your chair," I challenged the stranger, "C'mon out and meet us!"

The chair turned on that cue, and a man with orange hair, an orderly beard, and a becoming red coat stood and walked around his desk, but not to us. His attention went to the wall, to a certain painting.

I took a few steps closer to him, motioning my sword threateningly. "Don't try anything funny." I nodded to Errol. "Aim," I ordered. He reluctantly raised Lucca's laser and pointed it at our foe. "So, I guess you're Santsu?"

"And I guess you're Crono?" he said in response, smiling a smile that I couldn't quite put my finger on. "And the guy with Lucca's gun must be Errol." Santsu chuckled quietly to himself as he continued, "The moment I heard you escaped, I knew you would come see me. After all, I'm the boss around here. Who better to see about Lucca's whereabouts? That's when I came up with an interesting game! Before we play, let's even the odds a bit, shall we?"

"You kidnap us," Errol burst out, "throw us in a cage with weapons sitting hopelessly close, without any food or water, separate us from our friend to make us worry, and _YOU_," he yelled unnecessarily loudly, "have the nerve to ask us to 'even the odds!'"

"My, aren't you passionate," he said, his tone that of a parent talking to a child. "You're correct, by the way." He took a quick step towards the painting and quickly threw it off the wall without hesitation, revealing, of all things, a sword hidden underneath, the steel blade gleaming. He grasped the handle of the weapon and assumed his stance before us. "Two-on-one, or one-on-one?"

_This guy's either incredibly stupid or incredibly smart._

"One-on-one sounds good to me."

"What!" I yelled at Errol's surprisingly bold, or infinitely unwise, declaration. "You're not serious, are you?!"

His answer was to walk up next to me and offer me the gun. "You're nuts! He'll slice you up like you're not even there!"

"Let's settle this the old-fashioned way. Put away the sword."

I placed my sword in front of him to block his path in protest. "What's with this? You couldn't shoot a guard without falling apart, and you expect—"

"Don't get in the way, Crono," he gravely admonished, his eyes focused on Santsu with an emotion I recognized all too well. Errol was aflame with anger.


	19. The Boss's Office, 3:58 p.m.

_The Boss's Office  
3:58 p.m._

It's something that happens to everyone. To that rule, there is no exception. There comes a time in life where rationality and logic find themselves at the mercy of the overwhelming demands of human emotion, be it love, happiness, anger, or any of the other countless feelings. For some people, that may happen on a daily basis. For others, it may be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. This was not the first time I found myself at the mercy of my anger, nor did I believe it to be the last. Unlike the other times, though, the stakes here were far greater. That and the fact that I could finally release these impulses to do good was the only reason I had almost completely surrendered myself to the moment. If I had surrendered myself fully, Crono's sword would have been in half for blocking me.

"You," Santsu laughed sadistically, "are a young fool, and fools need to be taught." He placed his sword on the top of his desk, just as I had hoped he would. "Don't worry. I won't send someone so young as you flying off this mortal coil just yet." He waved a hand at Crono as he ordered him, "Let us settle this with honor, boy. Let him through so that I can instruct him in pain."

"You shut your hole, you damn bastard!" Crono cursed. He removed his sword from in front of me and pointed it at Santsu's neck, though he wasn't nearly close enough to do anything threatening with it except threaten. He moved to change that, however, when he began to take a step—

—that didn't get very far as his leg moved into the tip of my foot, sending him tripping to the floor.

"Sorry, Crono," I apologized, though we both could tell that I didn't really mean it. Before he could return to his feet, I stepped in front of him, taking a moment to kick his sword away from him. "This is something that I have to do."

"Are you really _that_ eager to visit the infirmary?"

"The trick," I countered, "is to not be the one going."

"You damned idiot!" Crono yelled from just a few feet behind, causing an unpleasant feeling in my ears, "Fine! Forget it! Go get yourself killed!" With that sentiment voiced, he sighed and sat down on a nearby couch.

"Enough idle banter," Santsu calmly requested. "If we're going to go, then—"

With a few swift steps to cover the distance between us, I charged, my left fist being held in my right hand to add strength to the attack. Before he knew it, my left elbow made contact with his jaw. After that, I let instinct flow through me. My right hand became a fist as it quickly let go of the opposite hand, and I punched Santsu directly in his stomach. The job wasn't over, as I pulled my fist back for another strike, connecting once more with his head. The older nemesis staggered back under the unexpected force of my vehemence. Mercy became an alien concept as I launched a high kick, once more striking at his head. For a split-second, I wished I could see the look on Crono's face.

Santsu's staggering brought his back to the wall, and he used it to regain his balance. I was surprised that he was even still standing, but I didn't let that stop me. Even as he stared me down, I was planning my next assault. Even as he spoke, I could feel the victory that would come. "You contemptuous, callow, irascible miscreant!"

"You done yet?" I provoked tauntingly, taking that moment to savor the irony of the scene. A smile crossed my lips when he made a charge of his own.

_For Lucca..._

His fist met air as I dropped to the ground. I used both hands and one foot to remain balanced and I sent the other one into Santsu's chin. He shouted in surprise and pain, but I disregarded it. I retracted my foot, and I put my right elbow to work, sending into his gut. Finally, in a fit of primal rage, I grabbed him with both hands, one to his head, the other to his side, and thrust him into the nearest wall.

He fell to the floor, and I stood over him, almost beaming with pride. "You call yourself a teacher of pain?" I clenched my fists and examined them sarcastically. "You did teach me one thing, though. You're face is as hard as a rock! Well, I hate to leave this job undone."

I gazed over my shoulder, to his desk, where the sword he had taken from behind the painting rested. Walking at a deliberately slow pace, I obtained the shining blade, held it in my hands for a few moment to get a feel for its weight and shape, and returned to my place above him. "Just what the hell were you thinking?"

"This is just what I figured would happen," he said in a loud whisper. "If I had possessed your strength when I was your age—"

"You didn't," I terminated, pointing the sword at his head, leaving it mere centimeters from the tip of his nose.

"_NOW WAIT JUST A MINUTE!_"

I shifted my eyes towards Crono, who was making his way quickly towards me. "You're taking this _way_ too far!"

He was right, but I just wished that he knew that I knew he was. People like Santsu understand threats and pain better than words. If Crono thought I was actually going to kill our best way of finding Lucca...

"He knows where Lucca is," I said quietly, "And he's going to tell us, or else I'm going to indulge my darker side."

Seeming to muster some of his last remaining strength, the defeated man expectorated, sending a mass of his saliva onto my legs. "What are you going to do? Kill me? You might be angry with me, but you—"

His scream echoed through the room like a banshee's howl as I sliced across his torso where I estimated his ribcage ended. I pointed another glance at Crono, and his expression was clearly one of shock.

"Gettin' a little too dirty for ya', Crono? Or is it because I'm the one holding the sword that I'm suddenly the bad guy? Didn't think I had it in me, did ya'?" I returned to Santsu, the bloodstained edge of the sword once more trained upon him. "Where is Lucca?"

"Bite me."

Another scream penetrated the air as his right arm took a grazing blow.

"Where—"

"_The ruins!_" he cried, and it suddenly felt as if the weight of the world had been lifted off of my shoulders, with it the passionate rage that had—

I took a step back, throwing the sword to the side and staring at Santsu's battered face, bleeding nose, mouth, and wounds. I looked down, but that almost worsened the sudden guilt as I saw that what I had mistaken for his spit was blood. _How... How could I have done this? What was I thinking? This is..._

My breaths were suddenly becoming increasingly more difficult as I continued stepping back from Santsu. "Errol?" I heard Crono's voice call, but I couldn't think. It wasn't until I hit the wall opposite Santsu that I finally came to rest, my knees giving way and sending me to the ground against the wall.

"Lucca," I exhaled, "This is... Forgive me..."


	20. Ruins Of Kajar, 4:04 p.m.

_Ruins of Kajar  
4:04 p.m._

Just as I had expected from the second I saw this thing, all my efforts to even remotely understand it proved fruitless. I had come to that conclusion quite some time ago, and just to make it look like I was keeping busy, I was taking out one crystal at a time and examining it closely for about a minute or two before placing it back where I found it and moving onto another crystal.

After examining somewhere in the ballpark of twenty crystals, about three dozen more left unchecked, the boredom was finally starting to get to me. Agitated and annoyed, I barked at one of the guards, not caring which one answered, "What _is_ this place, anyway?!"

"Keep quiet and keep working," he ordered in a deep and threatening voice that I ignored.

"I'll get to work if I can get some answers! Maybe if I know a little bit more about these ruins, I'll be able to get a little more insight into this thing, maybe even actually be able to fix it!" It was a lame excuse to me, but I just hoped that he didn't think so.

"We don't have any solid proof," he began, sounding as fed up as I felt, "but there are rumors going around that the Boss thinks this place is Zeal."

"Zeal?" The name didn't ring any bells to me, but he said it like it was common knowledge.

"Don't they teach you kids anything in school! Zeal's the ancient, mythical kingdom where magic came from. They say it floated in the sky more than thirteen-thousand years ago until something came and crashed it to the earth."

_Mythical kingdom? Where magic came from? Floated in the sky? Crashed to the earth? Is this guy insane?_ I didn't ask that, however. If by some strain of insanity this Zeal nonsense was right, then there was really no way that I could help them with this.

"With all due respect to Santsu," I began insolently, "he doesn't need a mechanic to repair this. What he needs is a wizard. Kidnapping me was a huge mistake. If this thing was created by a 'magic-using people,' then it serves to indicate that it operates on magical principles. I'm not afraid to admit that those kinds of principles are far beyond me."

"That's not my problem, miss. It's yours."


	21. The Boss's Office, 4:05 p.m.

_The Boss's Office  
4:05 p.m._

Whatever rage that had burned within his heart, it was now thoroughly extinguished by the coldness of guilt and remorse. Errol had just finished beating the senses out of Santsu, even going as far as taking the sword that Santsu had cleverly concealed behind a painting on his wall and making good on his threats of pain against his enemy. Now, he was on the ground, looking down at it, almost to the point of breaking down into tears because of what he had done. It was far worse than what I had witnessed after he shot that guard before we arrived in this office. Looking at him at that moment, I tried to find something to tell him, some way to reassure him that he was justified, that Santsu got what was coming to him, but all I could do was watch. Watching just wouldn't cut it.

I made my way over to him slowly before kneeling next to him. My first instinct was to ask if he was all right, but it was painfully obvious how futile that question was. Instead, I gave him a pat in his shoulder before I began my efforts. "You... I... Couldn't have done it better myself."

He abruptly jerked his head up, staring at me, his entire face expressionless. "I went too far, and you know it. There was no need to..." His voice went into silence as his eyes moved to Santsu, who wasn't in any better shape than he was a moment ago.

"We have what we came for. We know where Lucca is."

"Lucca," he repeated. "How could she forgive me after that?"

_So, that's it._ "Lucca doesn't need to know how we found her," I stated. "There's no need for her to—"

"How can I _not_ tell her?" His head lowered again.

"Why do you have to?"

"I was never good at keeping to myself when it came to my friends, what few of them there are."

I ventured another look at Santsu before telling Errol, "Speaking of Lucca, you think we should get going?"

Errol exhaled deeply before finally moving to stand up, and I soon joined him. "This is like a cheesy fairy tale," I joked. "Rescuing the damsel in distress from the evil lord of the mountain, eh?"

"In most tales, there's only one hero," he returned. "Who gets the girl?"

"I think—"

"I don't deserve her."

We turned to leave, and we were halfway to the door when Errol broke his stride and spun around to Santsu.

He didn't seem to have that anger in his eyes, but I was still concerned. "Errol?"

"I wanna know something," he spoke, striding back to Santsu. "Why did you kidnap her? What's so important?"

Santsu turned his head and eyed him curiously, "What's it matter?"

"It matters to me," the answer flowed off Errol's tongue quickly.

The battered man was silent for several seconds before he began the explanation, "Inside this mountain, there is an ancient building, the ruins where Lucca is. According to our analysis, it's well over thirteen-thousand years old, dating back to," he paused momentarily, "the time of Zeal."

"Zeal?" I half-shouted, finally interested in the conversation. "You're deranged! Zeal is nothing more than a myth. Hell, my mom used to tell me bedtime stories about the magical kingdom of Zeal! It's—"

"—real," the injured man interrupted, "Go to the ruins, look upon them for yourself, and then tell me that those ruins are not of Zeal!"

"What's that have to do with Lucca," Errol continued unquestioningly.

"We found a device, a blue circle on the ground. My men unearthed the device, but it wasn't like anything we could identify, let alone fix. That's why we went after Lucca, but the plan didn't go exactly as planned."

I gave his a quick look over his beaten self and retorted, "Tell me 'bout it."

"For one, we originally wanted to go after Taban. Unfortunately, I had to settle for his daughter, who was almost as adept at science as he. Secondly, you two happened to be nearby when we made our move. I didn't think anything of it. In fact, I was going to return you and Lucca back to your respective families in Truce, for a price, of course, once her value to me was exhausted. If she couldn't repair the device, then at least I'd make some capital off of having her."

"What if she could repair the device and did?" my friend interrogated.

"Then in addition to the ransom money, I'd have myself a working Zeal device which would make even more than the three of you put together."

My eyes narrowed on Santsu furiously. "Money. That's all this was about to you. I'd have to say you got what you deserved, you greedy scum-sucking son of a bitch!"

"I'm satisfied." On that mark, Errol turned and once more made a beeline to the door, myself following reluctantly.

"Wait!" I shouted without warning, running back into the office. I grabbed my sword, which Errol had knocked from my grasp before giving Santsu his just desserts, and Lucca's gun. On the way back, though, I noticed a certain item that would definitely come in handy. I obtained the item and ran back to Errol, who was waiting patiently at the door. "I thought you could use this," I suggested as I handed him Santsu's sword.

"I shouldn't—"

"C'mon. You need something more than that little gun! I thought you said you could use whatever you got your hands on," I recalled from the memories of our conversation at my campsite.

"Fine, all right! Let's scram!"


	22. Ruins Of Kajar, 4:15 p.m.

_Ruins of Kajar  
4:15 p.m._

I looked down at my watch. _4:15? Exactly how long are they going to have me working on this lost cause?_

I gave an exasperated huff. Santsu was an idiot if he actually thought that I could do anything except give these crystals a good polish. It was getting to be more difficult to stay focused on this job, like it would be if—

"I'm hungry," I blurted out, hoping the guards would pay heed to me. I wasn't lying, however. I hadn't eaten since Errol and I met in Leene Square, and it was finally getting to me.

"Hey," one of the guards said to the other, whom I recognized as the one who explained the ruins to me, "Go call the maid, get some food down here."

"Okay," he complied, then he walked down the hallway and out of the ruins. It was easier than I thought it would be, but I guessed they had their orders to not mistreat me, at least physically.

After about a minute or two of examining crystals, I heard a sound from down the hall, coming from outside the ruins. It was hard to identify, but I hypothesized that it was fighting. Fighting could only mean one thing.

Like knights in shining armor, they came around the corner, their swords showing like elegant extensions of themselves. The question of how Errol came into possession of a sword crossed my mind briefly as he looked down the corridor, spotting the remaining guard and myself.

"Hold 'em!" he yelled to Crono, and I suspected that they were being pursued. Before the guard could react to his presence, Errol had dashed the short distance between us and struck the man across the face with the sword's flat end, knocking him into the wall and out for the count. Errol looked at the fallen guard, as if in apology, but immediately afterwards focused his attention on me.

"Errol!" I couldn't help but yell in surprise and joy as I jumped to my feet and gave him a great, tight hug. I stepped back after that and asked him, "How did—"

"I'll explain later," he swiftly interrupted, reaching into his pocket and tossing the XB-4 to me. "Right now, we've got trouble!"

At the mention of trouble, I risked to scout beyond him to Crono, who was engaged in battle with a party of five of Santsu's men. They proved to be pushovers, though, for when I aimed my weapon at them, Crono attacked them furiously, using the same spinning attack technique we had witnessed him use on the Hetake earlier that day. Three of them went down, while the other two attempted to attack, their blades just like those of the men who abducted us. He dodged one, parrying the other before pushing the man back into the wall and retreating to join us.

He stopped running just soon enough to prevent himself from crashing into Santsu's "device." With a whirl, he faced back down the hallway, where the two enemies he left behind had been joined by four of their friends. I looked to Crono, then to Errol, and I aimed my weapon, not taking the time to choose a target since I could shoot almost anywhere down that entryway and expect to hit someone. The situation looked bleak, and I couldn't help but think my next words might be my last. "This was some date, Errol!" I joked with a smile, strangely enough, "Next time, _I_ choose where we go, 'kay?"

If I didn't know better, I'd say that Errol was blushing at my statement. Unfortunately, within the span of a few seconds, the six foes had completely blocked the hall before us, standing in a straight line with their blades drawn and pointing right at us.

"If you kids know what's good for ya'," one of them said, "you'll lay your weapons down and surrender peacefully. Resist, and know no mercy."

As the man spoke his grim announcement, I saw movement behind them, a lone person entering. He or she sat something on the floor before walking towards the men from behind, and I immediately assumed that the person was another guard. Like a slap in the face, I was proved wrong.

The individual _attacked_ our aggressors from behind, knocking three of them out before the other half of them knew what was going on. The remaining fighters attempted to attack this new foe of theirs, but Crono, Errol, and I made our move, attacking them when they had turned their backs to face... the mysterious woman who had saved us.

She was dressed informally, in a T-shirt and blue jeans, and her blonde locks were somewhat chaotic, and she brushed at them to bring them to order. She appeared as if she could've taken down all six of our captors had we not assisted.

"You," Crono said upon seeing her.

"You're the woman from the cell," Errol concluded.

She nodded quickly, telling them, "I thought I told you kids I was never there," with a smile. "You used the box of food I gave you to escape. I gotta say that I didn't expect that, but it looks like everything worked out."

I turned to Errol and Crono. "She helped you guys?"

"It's a long story," both boys responded.

I shrugged. "I guess I'll hear it later."

"You will, darling, but first we should get out of here."

She started down to the exit, and we followed her quickly. Once we got to the exit, though, she picked up the thing that she had placed on the floor before saving us and handed it to me. It was a box, and it was labeled rations. "I heard you were hungry."

As we left the ruins, Errol began questioning her, "You're no ordinary maid, are you?"

She laughed quietly. "I'm a maid, yes, but I used to double as—"

"—Santsu's sparring partner?" Crono finished.

"That's right."

Errol looked shocked. "But he fights like—"

"Yes, I know," she agreed, "He was never that great a fighter. Never once did he ever win against me. I must've hurt his pride, because after about a month, he gave me the job of being his maid."

"That's a waste," Crono whispered. "What's your name, anyway?"

"Tira."

I decided that it was my turn to ask something. "How far away is Truce?"

"Through the forest, it's about an hour's walk, but you might want to be on alert when traveling through it. As you can imagine, monsters run wild there."

After about five minutes, Tira had guided us to the cave's exit, where she handed us a bag of Tonics to help us on our trip. With a caring farewell, we departed for the estimated hour-long southward trek between Mount Valador and Truce. As the mountain hideout faded into the distance, I hoped to never see a cave again.


	23. The North Wood, 4:37 p.m.

_The North Wood  
4:37 p.m._

Like most of the forests I had seen, it was green, very green. The terrain was uneven, covered in grass, and a modest amount of sunlight penetrated the canopy to light our path. It was enough light to see everything there was to see. Trees were chaotically placed around the forest and other plants like ferns and bushes covered the ground. Besides the sounds of our footsteps on the forest floor and the various calls and howls of distant animals and monsters, the North Wood was eerily silent.

"Can we stop?!" Lucca broke the silence for the seventeenth time since we escaped and started our walk back to Truce. "There's really no hurry to get back, is there?" For the seventeenth time, she was right about that, but it didn't stop Crono from continuing onward in spite of Lucca's protests. I had tried arguing on her behalf to him, but it was just as ineffective as throwing pebbles at a brick house trying to demolish it.

I slowed my pace somewhat. If Crono wouldn't let us stop, the least I could do was slow our pace a little bit for Lucca. Crono didn't seem to notice, but at this point, I didn't care. He could go as far ahead of us as he liked. I would stay by Lucca's side and insure that she got home safely by myself if I had to.

As my mind wandered across the day's events, I came to remember that we still hadn't told Lucca how we had escaped our cell and find her. I wasn't exactly eager to tell that story, and she never bothered to ask us in all the time we had been traveling, so I decided on waiting for her to ask again.

"That's a nice song," Lucca managed to huff from behind.

_What?_ I thought before I noticed that I was, in fact, humming my family's song. I ceased the tune, lowered my pace until I was walking alongside her, and replied, "It's a family heirloom. Mom used to sing it to me when I was little, just as my grandmother had to Dad."

Lucca inquired, "Does it have words?"

"It does."

"Do you mind if you sing it?"

"Well, uhm, no," I eventually managed to say, "I don't mind." I took in a breath, hummed the starting pitch, and began singing, "When the world is icy cold, the memories of old will—"

"You think you could hurry it up a bit!"

My face contorted instinctively in annoyance at Crono's interruption. I peevishly yelled back at him, "Truce'll still be there no matter when we arrive, Crono, so why rush it!?"

I gave a disgusted huff as Crono ignored me. As I turned to look at Lucca, there it was, the same black omen that had landed us into this mess, perched on a nearby branch. I recognized those red wings anywhere. "Crono! Company!"

He turned around, and as soon as he spotted what I was looking at, he drew his sword in a lightning-fast motion. Lucca had her gun at ready a moment later, and I sidestepped to place Lucca out of my field of vision and held my stolen blade in my hands, not sure what good it would do against a bird. I recalled our first encounter with the monster, where it flew off, returning with Santsu's employees. I scouted the area, but there was no sign of any other humans except the three of us.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon," I whispered under my breath, hoping that the bird creature would attack and get this over with. I noted silently that this would only provide Crono for an excuse to move faster. If this thing was here, then reinforcements wouldn't be far behind. Suddenly realizing our advantage, I said quietly, "Lucca."

"Roger that!" she replied as she aimed and fired. The beam was quick, and hit its mark before the bird knew what hit it, and it fell ungloriously to the ground.

At first, I was a little shocked at the simplicity of the encounter. I had to admit that I was expecting more, but in this case, more probably would not be a good thing.

"Let's go," Crono ordered, resuming his march towards Truce. As he walked away, I turned back towards Lucca.

"I hate to agree with him, but if Santsu's pet scout could follow us, then his men might be trying to catch up with us."

"We can't afford to stay still," she finished for me as we dashed to rejoin Crono.


	24. Outskirts Of Truce, 5:26 p.m.

_Outskirts of Truce  
5:26 p.m._

It seemed like weeks since we had last seen Truce, especially once we emerged from the North Wood and finally saw the village itself with our own eyes. We were finally home after one of the worst days out I had ever imagined. All we had to do was cross a grass-covered field, and then we would be home free. Something in the back of my head thought that it would be too easy.

"Old Truce never looked so good, eh, Lucca?" Errol put forth while Crono, he, and I stood on a short hill overlooking Truce.

"I'll say," I agreed. "I can't _wait_ to sit down!"

"Well," Crono suggested, "we should get going, ya' know. Time waits for no one."

"Right," both Errol and I answered, and like a little kid who just wanted to have fun, I patted Errol on the shoulder. "Race ya'!" Not waiting for his answer, I broke into the best run I could conjure after almost an hour of walking.

"You're on!" he accepted the challenge, and he was in hot pursuit shortly thereafter.

Crono mumbled something under his breath, but I was too far away to make it out. I risked a look back and noticed that he, too, decided to join the race. The wind rushed against my face, blowing through my hair as it tossed around behind my head. The downward slope of the hill gave my speed a boost, but it didn't last long. Actually, at that moment, everything seemed to drift away. The fact that I had been away from home for over eight hours, the fact that I had been kidnapped and that it might not be the last time I would find myself in grave danger, the fact that Errol's and Crono's lives were endangered by the people who only wanted me, and even the fact that I still didn't know the details of the adventure they had gone through to rescue me just flew away from my mind like they had never been there at all. For that moment, I was completely careless, calm, free. Even though I knew that Crono and Errol would beat me to Truce, the simple fun and innocence of running through an open field forbade me from paying any attention to that.

About a fourth of the way traveled, Errol came from behind and ran alongside me. I glanced over to him, smiling playfully, and my smile was returned. We soon found ourselves laughing, and we didn't understand why. Then again, isn't happiness a reason for laughter? I felt more alive and joyful than I had ever felt in years, and for the first time, the shadows my mother's accident had cast upon my life dissipated when the light of this moment shown upon me. I once again eyed Errol, his glasses beginning to displace themselves, his darkened hair waving under the wind, his brown eyes gleaming with delight. His smile, most of all, caught my attention. His lips were curled happily, ivory white teeth showing barely. Had I seen this when I had been watching him at Leene Square that morning, it would've seemed totally out of place. He had looked so cold, almost to the point of emotionlessness. Now, it was hard to imagine him as anything but passionate and fun-loving.

Before I knew it, we had arrived at Truce. Crono won the race, which was odd because I didn't remember him passing us. Errol and I had traveled together the full remainder of the race, which might have explained why we had tied.

"Well, guys, it's been," Crono paused, "interesting."

Errol responded, "Indeed."

"Definitely," I added.

The three of us stood together, looking at each other. I couldn't determine what it was that kept us from saying goodbye to each other after facing death and life together, but I had the feeling that we would meet again. "I guess we should be getting home, eh, Errol?" I finally said after about a minute or two.

"That's right," he stated, "I still haven't taken you up on that promise to walk you home."

"Just don't get kidnapped, and we'll be okay," Crono told us, and I hoped he was just kidding.

"Well, Crono, I'll see ya' later, man."

"You, too, Errol."

As Errol and I started off, I turned back and waved to Crono. "It was nice meeting you!"

"You, too, Lucca. Take care!"


	25. Truce Village, 5:30 p.m.

_Truce Village  
5:30 p.m._

_This was probably the most eventful day of my life,_ I thought to myself as I walked alongside Lucca back to her house. _I just hope that Santsu learned his lesson._

"Errol, it's time," I heard Lucca tell me.

"Huh?" I mumbled confusedly. "What time?"

"Time for you to tell your story. How did you escape, and how did you find me?"

_Aw, damn._ "Well, it went kinda like this," I started. _I'm not gonna like this._

While I conveyed the events leading up to my duel with Santsu, I noticed Lucca intentionally slowed her pace so that I would be sure to finish before we got to her house. "We found Santsu in his office," I continued. "We did our introductions, and I went head-to-head with him after convincing him to put his sword away." I stopped abruptly. "He was no match for me," I added after a bit.

"You don't sound to thrilled about it," Lucca observed.

I shook my head, feeling like I should be laying in a psychiatrist's office telling this story instead of walking through Truce. "I pulverized him. I went wild against him for what he did."

"What did he do to you?"

"_Nothing!_" I stressed, straining to keep it below a shout. "Nothing to me, but what he had done to you just sent me through the roof. I was uncontrollable, uncivilized. I turned his own sword on him, and I even sliced into him in order to get him to tell us where you were." I looked down at the sword, and she did the same. I still carried the hateful thing with me, but now that we were safe, what was the point in keeping it except to remind me of the day I lost myself in anger and hate?

"You rescued me," she finally interrupted my thoughts, "You did what you had to do. Would he have told you where I was if you hadn't done what you did?"

"We'll never know that answer," I whispered.

"Why don't you think he deserved what he got?"

"It's not that. I just don't want to be the one—" I cut off.

"You don't want to hurt others. That's understandable, but you should understand that the ends more than justify the means."

"I could've killed him."

"But you didn't."

During the silence that followed that, we were finally within sight of Lucca's house. When she stopped halfway across the bridge that lead to her family's island, I stared at her as she moved to the edge of the bridge overlooking the flowing water below our feet.

As I moved to join her, she looked over her shoulder to me, and of all the things to do, she smiled at me. It was unthinkable. After what I had done, how could she smile knowing that I was capable of such bloodshed and violence.

She finally spoke, "Doesn't your guilt tell you something? Doesn't the fact that you feel regret over his suffering tell you that you are _not_ a bad person?" Our attentions turned to the water below, flowing with a sense of tranquillity about it.

"How can you possibly forgive me for that?"

She didn't reply, but I felt a sense of inner contemplation around her until she reminded me, somewhat reluctantly, "Earlier today, you... asked about my mother." I turned my head to face her. An expression crossed her face, one of regret and sadness. "My mother is a sweet, kind, loving person, and I love her very much. Seven years ago, June 30, 990, my father had an invention of his in the house. He had warned mother to keep her distance from that _blasted_ thing, but she felt that it was getting to be dusty." Lucca was nearly in tears as she conveyed the story, and I listened silently. "When she moved to clean it, her dress was caught in the machine. Neither of us could pull it out, and Dad was out of town on business. I dunno how, but the machine started up, and it pulled Mom—" Her voice began to stifle, and she stopped herself, trying desperately not to cry, barely succeeding. She struggled to finish her tale. "Mom lost the use of her legs that day. She hasn't walked for seven _years_, and all I could do was watch as that thing pulled her into its maw. Ever since, I've thought about that day, thinking that if I could learn more about machines, that I might somehow atone for what I did... or couldn't do."

Finally, her defenses broke down, and she let her tears flow, at last. I was struck completely speechless. What could I say that no one had already said to her before? _It wasn't your fault. There was no way you couldn't seen that coming. It's all in the past._ None of those nor anything else I could think of could do justice to this scene. Nothing could've prepared me for that story, and deep down, I felt ashamed for making such a fuss about Santsu when Lucca had this within her all along. Then, I remembered her words from an eternity ago. _"No one will get hurt because of me!"_ They took on a completely new meaning after hearing her story. It explained many things, but none of it mattered right then. Not sure what else I could do, I put my arm around her on her shoulder. She then turned around and hugged me tightly, crying on my shoulder. We held onto each other, comforting each other until she finally whispered through the tears, "I forgive you because you won't forgive yourself, just like I won't."

"Maybe someday," I whispered, "we will forgive ourselves." Lucca and I stepped back from each other, both of us wearing weak grins. "Until then, we should get you home."

"Okay," she weakly concurred, and we restarted our short stroll across the bridge. As we stepped off the final plank of the bridge, we slowly made our way to the door to her house.

"Errol, that song," said Lucca, "Crono interrupted it."

I nodded in understanding, and I took a breath and performed the ancient song to my fullest ability.

Conveniently, when I had finished the song, Lucca and I had reached her home. We stopped just off the front porch, and she turned around to look upon me. "That was beautiful," she complemented. "Well, Errol, it was a pleasure spending my day with you," she smiled, which was a major improvement over what we had shared at the bridge. "I'll see you around." She started up the porch, but then stopped like she had hit a wall. Lucca immediately jumped down the steps she had climbed, ran up to me, and pressed a small and short kiss against my cheek. The surprising young girl stepped back and smiled wider than previously, then wordlessly climbed the steps of her porch and disappeared into her house.

The expression on my face had frozen in shock after she had kissed me, and I stood there for the longest moment trying to make sense of it. Eventually, I decided it would be best to go back home, and I turned back and walked away, leaving the house, but not the memories, behind.

Just when I thought this day was over, however, a familiar figure sat waiting at the bridge. My shocked expression, which was still on my face even as I neared the bridge, finally dissipated into one of annoyance as I shouted the name of the spike-haired warrior, "Crono!"

He grinned childishly. "I knew you'd be good together!" he reminded me.

"You're just jealous 'cause I got the girl," I countered.

"You think _I_ wanted her? Sorry to burst your bubble, but she ain't my type, ya' know." I tried to walk past him, but he followed me, continuing, "If I had wanted her, you wouldn't have gotten that kiss, because I would've walked 'er home!"

"I really don't wanna get into this," I tried telling him. "So, you saw everything?"

"Saw, yes. Heard, nothin'. So, you love her yet?"

"I don't think that's any of your—"

"I take that as a yes."

"Will you just _go away?!_ Don't you have a campsite to go back to?"

"You'd be shocked at how my priorities are structured, Errol."

"Why're you here, anyway? After what we went through, I figured that you would be dying to get away from me."

"Maybe it's just _you_ dying to get away from _me_."

"Look, Crono," I started off, "You're a cool guy, and I bet you're a great friend, but I would appreciate to be left alone. If you're really that desperate to be around me, then I'll be at Leene Square tomorrow between 10:00 and 1:00."

He sighed in defeat, "Okay, sure." As we finally crossed the bridge back onto the mainland, he broke into a run off into the northeast, yelling back at me, "See ya' later!"

And I was alone, at last.


	26. Crono's House, 5:46 p.m.

_Crono's House  
5:46 p.m._

"Mom, I'm home!" I announced as I walked in the door.

"Crono, dear?!" Mom said in surprise as she rose from her seat at the dinner table, "Why aren't you out camping?"

_Oh, Leene..._ "Well, uhm, Mother, I, uh..." _How do I explain _that?!

"Well, if you're not going to tell me, then you can at least join me for dinner while you think up a clever lie to tell me instead."

"Food! I'm starving!" I ran to my chair and sat down, "What's for dinner?!"

Mom sighed, "I swear, Crono, you're a bottomless pit!"

After my mom served up my favorite dish, spaghetti with garlic bread, I decided that telling her the truth would be for the best. After eating two plates full of the delicious noodles and bread, I was finally able to begin our unbelievable tale. Tempo jumped onto my lap, and I petted him lovingly as I started.

"Well, Mom, it started when I met Lucca, ya' know, the genius local girl, and her friend, Errol, on the outskirts. I saved them from some monsters, and then we were all kidnapped and taken to Mount Valador up north."

"Holy Leene," Mom shook her head in disbelief, "You're lies just get better and better, don't they?"

As she said that, I knew that convincing her that we had really been kidnapped would be futile, so I just took two of the remaining pieces of garlic bread and headed upstairs back to my room, Tempo following.

I jumped up, landing on my bed like a falling rock. I sat on its edge as Tempo rubbed up against my leg, probably begging for the food in my grasp. "Like there's a chance in hell you're gonna get some," I told him, and he just looked at me and started purring. I couldn't help but smile at him. "You'd believe me, wouldn't ya'?" I asked the animal. "Lemme tell you 'bout those guys." I took a bite out of the bread, but I ended up devouring both pieces before I started, "That Errol kid is one tough nut to crack. One minute, he's beating the living daylights outta the bad guy, then the next he's on a guilt trip! Though I gotta admit, he did go a bit too far with Santsu. It's not to say that I don't understand his guilt, but we did end up rescuing that brainiac, Lucca.

"Speaking of her, she was an odd one, too. Even though I didn't know she was Taban's kid at the time, I could tell she was a smarty. You should see those glasses, Tempo! They're, like, huge! Well, anyway, she's nice and all. I gotta feeling I'll be seeing her again. Errol, too. 'Course, I'll probably be seein' them together more than anything. They really got the hots for each other." Tempo meowed and walked over to his food bowl, probably because he realized I had eaten the garlic bread. "Well, I think they do," I finished.


	27. Errol's House, 5:49 p.m.

_Errol's House  
5:49 p.m._

Instead of going into my house, I decided to remain outside for a while longer. The sun was hidden behind clouds, and it looked like we would be having rain in the next few hours. Gusts of the wind forced themselves against me as I stood in the middle of my back yard, Santsu's sword still in my grasp. I hadn't let the cursed thing go for hours, and I even now felt the need to keep it close at hand. For the first time since picking the weapon up from Santsu's desk in Mount Valador, I looked at it closely. It was an unremarkable design to be sure. It was similar in style to Crono's Wood Sword except for the obvious differences between wood and steel. I had since cleaned the edge of the blood, but that didn't stop me from remembering how the deadly sharpness was coated with the crimson substance. The metal hilt was warm and sweaty from being in my hands for so long, but I still clenched it regardless.

Eventually, I found standing still to be irritating, and I began practicing with it, cutting through the air swiftly, shifting the weapon between my right and left hands. As I held the sword with both hands and prepared a downward strike, I froze in place as I heard the familiar squeak of the back door. By the length of the squeak, I was able to determine the user of the door, and the sound of dogs' feet against the ground confirmed by hypothesis.

I turned to face Mother and greeted her, "Hi."

"When did you get back?" she asked me as our three dogs, two small, male, and brown, the third even smaller, female, with a fine black coat, and hyperactive, trotted to greet me.

"Some minutes ago," I answered honestly.

"A new sword for your collection?"

"Well, I dunno if I wanna keep it or not."

"The way you handled it says otherwise. How'd you get it?"

_I stole it from a man I almost murdered._ "I found it in the outskirts."

Mother paused in thought. "Well, if we hear anything about a missing sword, we'll know where to look to."

"Something inside says that won't be happening."

"Why not?"

"Gut instinct." I turned around. "Could I be alone for a few more minutes."

"Okay." She whistled for the dogs, "C'mon, let's go inside."

Once again, I was left alone. The wind continued to blow around me, causing the leaves to rustle and the grass to sway under its influence. I turned around once again to face the yard, and my mind ventured back to the jail cell at Valador as I repeated my words, the words of generations of my family.

"Just know and believe  
In the pow'r you hold.  
Just trust and know  
What the wind says.  
Now, follow your heart,  
Make a wish on a star  
And just believe  
In the strength that the wind holds..."


	28. Lucca's House, 6:01 p.m.

_Lucca's House  
6:01 p.m._

"When the world is icy cold  
The memories of old  
Will clearly light the way for you.  
Remember what you're told  
And no one be as bold  
As he who heeds the yearnings of the wind."

I finished the song quietly from the closed recess of my room. In the back of my head, I wondered what Errol would think if I sang the full song to him. After all, I had spent seven years working on my memorization skills. _If Lucca wants to remember something, then Lucca remembers it,_ I thought pridefully. From my sitting place at my desk, which had cluttered with books and papers for a very long time, I turned around to view my room, just as cluttered as my desk. Not for the first time, and not for the last, I wondered if my room would appear any different had Mom not suffered from that accident seven years back. Would I still have made the attempt to learn about machines? I honestly couldn't find the answer for that question, but in the end, I guessed it didn't really matter. Mom was crippled, is crippled, and will always be crippled until she passes on. Nothing I could do would alter that fact. To alter that would be to alter history itself, something that I would most likely not get the chance at.

After spending the past twenty minutes sitting down, my legs had finally begun to recover from that terrible walk. It was worth it, I knew. To meet Crono and Errol was probably the best thing that had happened to me, even if we did face great danger on our first day together. The danger, I believed, only served to bring the three of us closer together. Even though I hardly knew them, I knew that they would do everything in their power to rescue me and escape, and knowing that someone would do that for me filled me with a happiness that I never had imagined.

"It's time," I told myself, "Mom had the right to know."

I stood up, my legs not particularly willing agents of that idea, and strode to the door, heading down the stairs, and then back up the opposite stairs to Mom's room, where she had been forced to spend most of her time because of that infernal device. As I opened the door and walked into the room, she was sitting exactly where I knew she would be. Looking upon her as if I hadn't seen her for decades, I dashed to her and embraced her, trying my best not to overwhelm her.

"Oh, my!" she gasped in surprise, "What has gotten _into_ you, Lucca?"

"Oh, Mom, I had the most exciting day ever!"

**_The End_**

* * *

Yay! I actually finished a fic! And twenty-eight chapters, too! I didn't expect it to be _that_ long, honestly, but hey! The future is never what it seems. Speaking of the future, if you select few readers who got this far don't review **_RIGHT NOW..._** then there's really not much that I can do about it! :-)


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